When school starts at Wiscasset Elementary School on Aug. 31, the former Wiscasset Middle School will nearly double in students and rise in staff by about one-third over last year. The hike in numbers, along with the students’ younger ages, have led to a revamping of parking and traffic areas and the playground.

The school’s administrative assistant Cindy Collamore, who’s worked at the building 20 years, said the changes look very nice; but more importantly, they look safe for the students, Collamore said in the school office Monday.

Principal Mona Schlein and Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot showed the Wiscasset Newspaper around the grounds. Like Collamore, Schlein and Wilmot liked how the changes had shaped up.

New paint on the parking and crosswalks in front of the school has made those lines more visible, Wilmot said. Orange arrows lead traffic from the Federal Street entrance to parking and around to the other side of the lot for student dropoffs and for exit back onto Federal Street.

A staff member will be posted in the dropoff area, Schlein said. All students will use the front entrance, Wilmot said.

Only school buses continue on from the entry route into a separate section directly in front of the school, she said. A sign with arrows marks where the buses separate from other traffic.

“The first couple of days are going be learning for families,” Wilmot said. “The goal (of the layout) is really to keep the flow and also to be able to have our students coming in being able to use an immediate sidewalk as opposed to walking elsewhere.”

Staff will park in three areas: the first, where the basketball hoops had been; the others are both behind the building and will be accessed via Morton Street, Wilmot said. The hoops will be on another part of the grounds, Schlein said.

The playground equipment, including a new piece with three slides, is in place on a new, rubberized surface. The surface needs to cure so, depending on weather conditions, it may or may not be ready for students to trod when school starts, Wilmot said.

Among concerns Schlein voiced on a 2014 tour of the school and its grounds was the steep hill outside a side fire exit. Her concern that younger students would roll down the hill has been addressed with a new deck outside the door and a route that takes students down a gentler slope, Schlein said Monday.

A celebration of the elementary school, featuring a ribbon-cutting, tours and watermelon, was set for 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27.

The school will serve nearly 300 students from pre-kindergarten through grade six, compared to 164 in grades five through eight last year, according to Collamore and Schlein. The building’s staff will grow from last year’s 40 to nearly 60 this year, they said.

Grades seven and eight have moved to Wiscasset Middle High School on Gardiner Road, formerly Wiscasset High School. Grades seven through nine start Aug. 31 along with elementary school students. Grades 10 through 12 start Sept. 1, the department’s administrative assistant Stacey Souza said.

The first day of pre-kindergarten at Wiscasset Elementary is Sept. 8.